So Far, So Good
by wurlitzerinspace
Summary: Kurt Hummel has transferred to Dalton Academy to escape the unrelenting bullying at McKinley. He finds at first that Blaine is actually quite the busy bee and has little time to interact with Kurt than expected. Luckily, Kurt is able to find a new friend.
1. Chapter 1: A New Friend

A severe looking woman with horn-rimmed glasses peered intensely at our young countertenor. The coffee stained teeth and the chapped lips smudged in "Mocha brown" moved like the wings of an acid-tripping butterfly. She spoke to him as if he was on trial.

" Welcome, Mr. Hummel.I understand your reasons for enrolling here and I assure you we will not allow that kind of ignorant behavior here. This is Dalton Academy and I do not want you to forget so I will say it again. This is _Dalton Academy. _You are transferring from McKinley and I will be blunt. You will struggle here. We expect much more from our students because they are more. Therefore, we will tolerate no less than the absolute best and that is the least we will ask of you in exchange for the great education that is Dalton. Discipline is also a principal we hold strong here and I hope you do not bring any trouble such as the abuse of drugs, alcohol, profanity, and all disruptive outbursts _including _those with song_. _Here is your schedule, locker information, and slips that need to be signed by tomorrow morning. Thank you, Mr. Hummel."

"_Does this woman breathe? Is she supposed to be real? I wonder if she watches The Notebook her circuits will go haywire," _thought Kurt.  
He lingered a moment too long with these rambling thoughts and the school principal gave him the farewell, "You may leave my office now, Mr. Hummel."

"Oh, of course. Sorry. I'm-I'm out this way…through the door," Kurt awkwardly mumbled as he stepped out of the android's office.

Before he could let out the gust of air he had just heaved in, a steady hand landed on Kurt's shoulder.

" I know," chuckled Blaine. Kurt's breath had hitched with the touch and the sight of Blaine again in uniform. As not to embarrass himself by dwelling on particular thoughts and standing there with mouth agape, he was quick to respond, "I'm sorry, I thought when I enrolled here that this school was run by _people _not…whatever she is supposed to be."

They walked down the hall together as boys in uniform rushed by to their own classes.

" Sure, she's intense but she actually doesn't follow through with half the things she says."

" She basically said no singing whenever I want. Obviously, she is new to the world that is Kurt Hummel."

" It's fine. Just don't be obnoxious about it and you won't be reprimanded."

" Now when would I ever be obnoxious?"

Blaine raised a knowing eyebrow at him and swiftly took Kurt's schedule into his own hands.

"…We have one class together," observed Blaine.

" Just one?" asked Kurt, obviously disappointed.

" Yup."

"Well, what is it that we have together?"

"Chemistry."

" Oh sweetie, I already knew we had that," said Kurt rolling his eyes then giving a teasing glance at Blaine. Then the last bell rang and Kurt took back his schedule to leave.

As Kurt hurried off to find his first class, which was Spanish, Blaine was left smirking still in the hallway with hands in his pockets. So with a very dapper turn, he walked with a slight bounce in his step towards the opposite direction.

_Oomph! _

With a rough crash, Kurt and another student fell to the ground as their belongings scattered onto the floor.

" Oh gosh, I am just struggling. I'm sorry," apologized Kurt.

" No, no, man. It was all me. Shouldn't be running…that was breaking a rule," reasoned the boy.

"Yes, one out of the trillion."

The boy laughed as he helped Kurt finish re-gathering his things.

Kurt looked up to see that the boy had short, straight brown hair. He also noticed why the boy was so quick to run over Kurt. He was almost as tall as Finn and probably didn't notice the precious porcelain.

"Shit, are you new? Cause Dalton isn't that big and I've never you seen you around," questioned Finn's wannabe duplicate.

" That I am."

" Good…Imagine the awkwardness if it turned out you went here since like freshmen year."

" Well, you're spared. I transferred from McKinley and today's my first day."

" Wow, alright. Look, man, I'll make it up to you. Where's your next class?"

By now both students were off the ground and standing. The hall was quiet for all the others had gotten to class.

" Spanish with Olson."

" Okay, cool I have her, too."

" That's too much of a coincidence."

" Like I said, Dalton isn't that big."

Kurt followed the boy's lead and they ended up face to face with a particularly annoyed woman, who had decided today was a good day to wear a frumpy vest with various pumpkins stitched to it. Since he already knew he was about to be scolded for being so tardy, Kurt kept back the less than polite comment he had for the teacher's attire.

Señora Olson walked up to the two boys with crossed arms.

"Adam, you're late."

"Thank God you reminded me Olson, I already forgot," said a sarcastic Adam as he slipped to an empty seat.

He continued, "But you've got to excuse me. I was helping poor…Hey, what's your name?"

Kurt turned toward Adam and indirectly the whole class when he answered, "Kurt…Kurt Hummel."

"Yeah, I was helping my buddy Kurt Hummer."

"Humm_el_."

"Humm_el_, sorry. Anyway, he's new. But you should already know that Olson. You know like everything. Things like the fact that I'm tardy. You should use that power for good by the way. Because with great power comes great re-."

"Thank you, Adam. That will be enough flip from you today," remarked Señora Olson.

The old woman now turned to Kurt with an appraising look.

"Mr. Hummel. You're new and it's your first day so I'll excuse the tardy, but this is Dalton so expect to be here on time from now on, yes?"

"Yes…or should I say 'Sí'?" joked Kurt, who began to laugh but cut short under Señora Olson's stare. The only other person laughing was Adam.

"_My oh my, today is about to be quite the long one," _thought Kurt as he settled to the last empty seat, which was about two rows completely from Adam.

"Blaine! Blaine! Jesus, wait up!" cried Kurt as he chased down the Warbler in the hallway towards the cafeteria. It was the lunch period and since Blaine was the only student he really knew, Kurt was trying to eat with him to avoid the awkwardness of being alone. He finally caught up to Blaine, who had turned to see who was calling his name.

" Oh hey, Kurt! How'd the first day go?" asked Blaine sincerely.

" It's fine-just hold on a second," replied Kurt as he heaved with knees bent to catch his breath from running.

"Uhh…you okay Kurt?"

" Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just not used to cardio while carrying Pangaea in the form of textbooks in my side bag."

"Oh, you'll get used to it. Are you heading for lunch?"

" Yes, are you coming?"

"Actually, no, I can't," confessed Blaine looking quite apologetic.

"Wh-Where are you going then? You can't expect me to go in there alone!" exclaimed Kurt, who looked around at the blur of strangers hurrying on by.

"I'm really sorry, Kurt, I wish I could, you know that, but I have a Warblers meeting today about Regionals."

Slightly offended, Kurt pointed out, "Well, it's obvious that I'm going to join the Warblers so couldn't I just come with you?"

"Sorry, again, Kurt. You haven't auditioned yet. So therefore, you're not a member and can't come to the meetings."

"Wait, I have to _audition_? At McKinley, we auditioned but I mean that basically just meant we got in. How come you didn't tell me I had to? How long do I have to prepare something? Am I too late to get a chance at a solo for Regionals-Blaine, where are you going?"

Blaine had begun to move away from him when a couple of other Warblers had come to find him to go head off to the meeting.

"Kurt, I'm really, really sorry, but I've gotta go. I'll talk to you about all that stuff in Chemistry, okay? Anyway, have a good lunch!" yelled Blaine over the crowd of students that were steadily filling the increasing space between them.

"_Alright, Hummel. Calm yourself. A true diva would be able to sit at lunch alone because they knew in the end others would flock to them…but how do I make them flock?" _Kurt mulled over his head for a while as he approached the cafeteria doors. When the perfect idea hit, so did Blaine's stern voice in the back of Kurt's mind, "_…Just don't be obnoxious about." _

Kurt knew nothing about him was obnoxious but the right level of grandeur. This could be like a real musical!

So with an intense level of determination, Kurt broke through the cafeteria doors and marched expecting to belt the first when _bam!_

Adam had dropped his lunch tray when Kurt had slammed the doors against his body, and now was rubbing his left knee on the floor.

"Are you _fucking_ kidding me right now? The one thing I had to look forward to is in a shit pile on the ground…YOU! You, again! BRO, I helped you out last time cause it was my fault. This, though, is all on you. You're buying me a new lunch," cried Adam to Kurt in front of a crowded yet now silent cafeteria.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry," said Kurt in shock, not even listening to Adam's yells.

" Dude, it's fine. Just buy me another lunch," reasoned Adam as he got up.

" Uh-uh okay."

He wasn't about to deny the boy his lunch when it was clearly Kurt's fault.

When Kurt had paid and brought Adam his fresh tray of meatloaf, he saw it as an opportunity to sit with the tall boy for company. Adam didn't seem to be too disturbed by his presence and just went on eating his food. Once he was finished, which was took only about ten minutes; Adam looked up at Kurt and asked, " Why did you barge into the room like that? You could've killed more than my lunch with that kind of force, which by the way I find impressive since I feel like I can literally break you with my eyelash."

" I was going to come in and sing," replied Kurt with an odd confidence.

" _Sing?" _asked Adam with a cautious look at his lunch mate.

" Yes, I was going to sing as a way of introducing myself to the school."

"Well, thank God then for my lunch tray. You would've made a fool of yourself."

Kurt narrowed his eyes and retorted, "I'm actually quite good thank you very much! I'd like to think they would find me very impressive in fact. Performing is what I do."

" Then join the Warblers or something."

" Oh I am."

" Well, I don't see you with them so shouldn't you get to that?"

" In due time, Adam, dear. I still need to prepare an audition song."

" What, you're not talented enough to just bust one out?"

" You can't just _bust _one out for something like an audition."

" Then I guess you're not as good as you say."

Kurt was starting to find this boy exhausting. In an attempt to change the subject, Kurt asked, " Do you usually eat alone during lunch?"

" No, it's probably your dangerous presence that is keeping away my many fan boys in uniform."

Kurt raised an eyebrow with doubt.

" Oh, really now?"

" No, I'm kidding. People don't sit with me because they don't know me. I'm new, too, you know."

" What? As in you just enrolled today?"

" No, I got here just about a month ago."

This was interesting to Kurt and a great opportunity to make a friend at Dalton who wasn't already caught up with everything. Now Kurt wouldn't have to depend on Blaine as his only friend here.

" Oh, why'd you transfer here?" pushed Kurt now a lot more invested in this conversation.

Adam wasn't fazed by Kurt's newfound interest and casually replied, "Dad got a job in an insurance branch here and so we moved to Ohio."

" Where from?"

" San Francisco."

" California! That's amazing! Do you know any celebrities?"

"I might kill you for being the fiftieth person to ask me that. I lived about 500 miles from Hollywood, smart one."

" Oh, gosh. I guess I forget California is bigger than most states…do you and your mom miss it though? Having to leave this late in your life must weird because of your dad getting a new job."

"Uh, actually it's just me and my dad. No mom."

Kurt turned red a little, sorry that he had brought up a touchy issue.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

Adam interrupted Kurt's apology to assure," Relax, they divorced like years ago. She's still in San Francisco."

A bit relieved yet still sad to hear about a divorce, Kurt just smiled and was starting to find Adam fascinating with a thought in the very back of his mind he was trying to hold back. Then Adam beat him to the punch.

"So, what. You're like gay, right? Or am I being ignorant right now?"

Kurt laughed at Adam's forwardness, "Yes, I'm gay. It's fine."

"Oh, cool. Yeah, I was just wondering."

"So…you're fine with it?"

"Did I not just say I moved here from _San Francisco_? Believe me, I'm barely moved by this."

" Well, that'd good I suppose. So…you're...what?"

Adam actually began to chuckle a little bit at Kurt's insinuating words.

"No, I'm straight as my boner."

Kurt actually spit a bit of the water he was drinking out of his canister at Adam's choice of analogy.

"So are you cool with that? Me being straight," asked Adam both teasingly and seriously.

"Of course I am. You're not my type anyway."

"Well, duh if I'm straight."

The two both laughed and got up when the bell rang. They walked out together and Adam asked, "Hey what class do you have next?"

"Oh, I have Chemistry with Slizeski."

"Shit, me, too."

"Oh, that's amazing! Now you can just lead me to class instead of me being independent and doing it myself."

"Whatever you say, majesty," said Adam with a sure roll in his eyes.

After a left, right, and another left the two boys found themselves in a clean cut class with half of it being a mini laboratory. Blaine was already sitting in his assigned seat talking with some other students.

"Oh, hey Kurt! How was lunch?" asked Blaine, whose face lit up at the sight of Kurt walking in through the door.

Kurt, too, at the sight of Blaine seemed to glow a bit brighter and with a slight skip walked over to Blaine.

"It was actually very nice. I made a new friend! Adam!" said Kurt as he threw his arms up in a grand gesture to Adam, who looked mildly embarrassed.

"Just cool it, Hummer."

A bit miffed, Kurt reminded him, "I told you. It's Humm_el_."

"You know what? I think I'll stick with Hummer."

"Whatever."

Blaine laughed at the two's banter and turned his full attention back to Kurt.

" I'm glad you had a good lunch. Do you still want to talk about how you're gonna audition for Warblers?"

"Oh, yes yes yes," replied Kurt with strong eagerness.

However, that was the exact moment Mr. Slizeski decided to walk in signaling that class was about to start and that the boys should grow quiet.

Mr. Slizeski's hair was all gray-white and he wore thin-rimmed glasses that made his eyes bug out a little bit. He also seemed to never close his mouth so he was always looking at the boys with his large teeth clenched and showing. To put it simply, he looked fucking crazy.

"Alright, I'm here now so the fun can stop," said Mr. Slizeski jokingly. He continued, " Okay, I know that we have a new student, Mr. Hummel. Mr. Hummel you will sit with the other new student, Mr. Havens, for he will be your lab partner since every one else is already paired. Is that put simply enough, Mr. Hummel?"

Adam was seated in the very back about three rows away from Blaine. A bit disappointed that he wasn't paired with Blaine, Kurt was still relieved to be sat next to, whom he labeled a friend.

"Yes, Mr. Slizeski."

"Alright, good. Now let's start with the actual fun."

As Mr. Slizeski went on to write the warm up problems on the board, Adam leaned in towards Kurt and whispered in his ears, "By the way…when it comes to Chemistry…" Kurt was for some reason holding his breath in a weird kind of anticipation. Then Adam said his finals words to the sentence with, "I'm a dumb ass." This made Kurt bark out a pretty loud laugh that caused many of the students to turn back and stare at them including Blaine.

Blaine looked a bit confused and took longer to turn back to face the front than the rest of the boys. His shoulders were also tensed now.

Neither Kurt nor Adam noticed this and Adam just continued the joke by saying, "No but really. If you don't want to die, don't make me touch any of that chemical shit."


	2. Chapter 2: Hanging Out

Kurt's first day at Dalton was finally over. Blaine and him were walking through the school parking lot. They had set up a carpool with each other in Kurt's car. As they walked, Blaine kept bumping against Kurt's left arm and Kurt was breaking a sweat to keep a poker face instead of just simply duct taping their arms together till further notice. Blaine kept on talking as if he wasn't being a cruel tease, " You're a shoe in for the Warblers but it's just that we get so many guys who want to be in the group that auditions are necessary."

"I guess I can understand that," said Kurt, " I just want to know when I'll be able to audition."

"I actually talked to them today during the meeting and they said Monday after school was good."

"Monday? I get one weekend?" asked a nervous Kurt.

Blaine rolled his eyes and laughed at the dramatics. They both got into Kurt's crisp SUV and drove out of the lot.

"Kurt, you're a force of nature. You're going to blow them away just by singing your go to shower song."

" Sexy Back."

"What?"

"My go to shower song."

"Oh."

Blaine all of a sudden grew quiet and looked intensely thoughtful. This was making Kurt uncomfortable, who quickly changed the subject.

"Hey, so I made a new friend other than you."

This broke Blaine out of his reverie.

"Oh yeah, I saw. I'm happy for you. I don't know Adam since he's new but I've seen him around."

A curious Kurt asked, "What have you heard about him?"

"Not much actually. You probably know more than I do."

"I think he's fascinating."

"What do you mean?"

"He's from San Francisco."

Blaine chuckled and said in a teasing tone, "Oh, so _that _kind of fascinating."

"_No_, he doesn't bend that way."

"So he's a top?"

Kurt almost crashed into the older woman crossing the street but slammed the brakes on time.

"_Blaine_!"

Blaine looked at Kurt laughing as if he did nothing with his arms raised up in some kind of defense.

"What? I'm just saying! He's new and he seemed to really like you, especially during Chemistry! C'mon, Kurt, I'm not blind."

Shocked at the accusation that he was flirting with the tall new boy, Kurt was left temporarily speechless. He was able to collect himself as he continued his car through the road once the woman was completely on the other side of the street.

" Well, I'll have you know that I mean it when I said Adam didn't go that way. I believe the way he put it was that he was 'straight as his boner.'"

This made Blaine break into a fit of giggles that had caused Kurt to join in as well. He smiled at Kurt playfully saying, " Alright, the boy is straight. I get it."

Without even looking at the Warbler, Kurt said backhandedly, " The way you question him, one might think you were jealous."

A dapper eyebrow rose.

" Jealous?"

"Oh, yes. You're jealous because I have a friend other than you at Dalton."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say," retorted Blaine, "…So do you want to have lunch Monday or do you and Adam some kind of lunch date deal, where you can't eat with other people?

The car came to a stop in front of The Lima Bean. They both got out and walked up to the building but the conversation continued.

" I've only met the boy today. I'm sure it'll be fine if we three eat together."

Blaine slowed his step and asked, "Well, what if I want to eat with you…alone?"

Kurt didn't really know how to answer this so he decided to keep it cool.

"I'm-I'm sure he'll, Adam, the boy-I'm sure he'll understand."

All right, that wasn't as cool as he intended.

The two boys ordered their coffees to go because Kurt wanted to race back home to practice for his Warbler audition. Blaine would have helped out but he had to go to Warbler practice. Since Regionals was coming up and Sectionals was too close of a tie, they were pulling out all the stops. Once they got their orders, they walked towards the exit when the very same tall boy from earlier today walked in.

"Adam!" said a surprise yet delighted Kurt.

Blaine was calmer with a polite nod, "Havens."

Adam was taken a back for a second and just said, "Sup."

The conversation went stale quick but then Kurt jumped back in enthusiastically asking, " So is it your first time at The Lima Bean?"

"Uh, yeah. I looked it up on Yelp and the reviews were good," answered Adam.

"Oh, you're tech savvy."

"Not really. I just had to type in the name."

It got awkward again and Adam tried ending it by saying, " So I'll just see you guys later."

Before he could walk away though, Kurt asked, "Hey, Adam. Do you want to help me out with my Warbler audition?"

Both Blaine and Adam looked at Kurt in quiet disbelief.

Adam looked the most worried.

"Me? I don't know, man. You should ask your boyfriend."

Thanks to Adam, the awkwardness level just skyrocketed and blew out The Lima Bean's rooftop. The two gay boys just began laughing and stammering with blushing cheeks.

They were talking at the same time and it was hard to distinguish who was saying what but it went something like, "Oh-ha! Us? No, no, no, no, no, no. We're not. Ha. That's funny. Uhm, no. Just. No."

Adam felt worse for bringing it up and just said, "Shit, sorry. My ignorance is showing. My bad."

Once Blaine and Kurt got over the issue, Kurt asked, "So are you going to help me?"

" Uh…fuck it. Sure. I don't have anything else to do. I was about to go back home and look up videos of falling baby pandas."

Nobody knew how to handle that bit of information and just moved past it. Kurt, though, was elated and quickly gave Adam his address.

"Just come by around 5 because I have to go back home and warm up before you arrive."

"All right, cool. See you then."

The group separated again with Blaine and Kurt strolling back to the SUV. Blaine, who had been pretty quiet throughout the encounter, spoke up.

" Do you want me to come by and help you out later tonight, too? I might be late though like ten depending on when Warbler practice is over."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be wiped after Warblers practice. I don't want you to go through the trouble."

"No, it'd be a pleasure. You know I love watching you perform, Kurt."

Rosy cheeked Kurt just smiled sweetly back at Blaine and said, "Well, thank you. That means a lot."

The two just smiled at each other and left in the SUV for Kurt to drop Blaine off back at Dalton, where the Warblers were practicing.

The Hummel's doorbell rang and Kurt rushed down to answer it. The rest of the family was home but they knew Kurt was expecting a friend from school so they let him get it. Kurt was out of his uniform and decided to keep it simple with a teal cotton v-neck and dark gray fitted jeans. Although it was chilly outside, the inside of the house was pretty warm.

Kurt opened the door to find Adam out of uniform as well. He had on a plain red hoodie with a Doctor Who shirt underneath. He also was wearing black jeans with worn out white converse. Very casual but looked appropriate on Adam. Kurt let Adam in the house and just asked, "Doctor Who?"

Adam actually got a little excited and said with some enthusiasm, "Oh, dude, it's this great UK show. It's about a traveling time lo-," but before he could finish the Hummel family appeared to greet the stranger.

Burt sized up Adam and gave him a solid handshake.

"Hey, I'm Burt, Kurt's father. You go to Dalton, too, yeah?"

Adam just nodded and said, "Yeah, I go to Dalton. It's nice to meet you guys."

Finn just waved and said politely, " Cool. Anyway, I'll see you around." He then went back upstairs to his room to get back to his epic Call of Duty live game with Puck and Sam.

Carole gave Adam a hug but not without reason. She leaned into his ear and quietly whispered, "So are you…like Kurt?" Carole's words were indeed inappropriate and a bit out of character but she was just so excited Kurt was making friends that she felt the need to ask.

Adam just shook his head and she said, "Oh okay. Just wondering."

Burt looked at Carole wondering what she had asked and she just said, "No, he's not." Burt knew what she was talking about and the couple walked away to leave Kurt and Adam to themselves.

Excited to have a guy that was straight _and _a friend for once over to hang out, Kurt clapped his hands together and asked, "So shall we go to my room and listen to me practice?"

Adam with shoved hands in his jacket pockets followed Kurt without question up the stairs to his room.

Kurt had changed his bedroom design once they moved into the new house after Carole and Burt got married. The walls were a pleasant light blue and the furniture were all matching shade of white. It looked like they were standing literally in the midst of clouds in the sky. Adam awkwardly sat down on the bed and gestured at Kurt to begin.

Kurt cleared his throat but before he began he filled in, "So this song is from one of my favorite musicals. The song albeit is a bit risky but I think that will just make my audition that much more interesting. It's called _Touch Me." _

Adam had to ask, "Is it about what I think it's about judging from the title?"

"Yes."

And without another second, Kurt turned on the instrumental version of the song on his laptop and began singing along.

_Where I go, when I go there,_

_No more memory anymore-_

_Only men on distant ships,_

_The women with them, swimming with them to shore..._

_Where I go, when I go there,_

_No more whispering anymore-_

_Only hymns upon your lips;_

_A mystic wisdom, rising with them, to shore..._

_Touch me-just like that._

_And that-o, yeah-now, that's heaven._

Kurt had begun moving his arms suggestively in imitation to what they do in the actual show.

_Now, that I like._

_God, that's so nice._

_Now lower down, where the figs lie..._

…_Not that I'm saying I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to not, would ever not want to._

_Oh, my god, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_Oh, my god, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_Oh, my god, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_Oh, my god, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_Touch me..._

Before Kurt could finish the song, Adam interrupted suddenly saying, "Alright, alright! Kurt, I'm not gonna lie to you but this is making me uncomfortable."

Kurt was already annoyed for being interrupted and stopped the song on his computer.

"Okay…well, with your uncomfortableness aside, what did you think?"

Adam had his hands back in the pockets of his hoodie and said, "I mean it was pretty. I'll give you that cause that's not something I say with testosterone rushing through my veins. But yeah, you were…pretty."

Kurt laughed at Adam's diction.

"Pretty?"

"Yeah. I don't know how else to put it."

"I guess I'll say…thank you?"

"You're welcome."

Kurt was still standing up with Adam sitting on the bed and they weren't saying anything until Kurt suggested, "So I guess you don't want me to re-do the song in front of you. Do you want to do anything else?"

"Uh, I don't know. I'm actually starving-"

As if fate had been sitting on the bed as well, the doorbell rang downstairs at the front door.

"Oh! That must be Blaine. Even though it's only five thirty…maybe his practice got out early."

Adam and Kurt walked downstairs to greet the Warbler but instead found a 12-year-old girl in a Girl Scouts uniform. Kurt was about to ask what she wanted when Adam pushed in front of him almost yelling, "ARE YOU SELLING GIRL SCOUT COOKIES?"

The girl was startled at Adam's outburst and just nodded.

Adam kneeled down to be at eye level with the girl and said with an almost creepy determination, "Do. You. Have. Somoas."

Again, the girl just nodded.

Adam was still serious as a grave.

"May. I. Have. Five. Boxes."

This time the girl was excited at the great sale and grabbed five boxes from her large brown bag of cookie boxes. She said, " That will be twenty dollars."

Adam hurriedly pulled out his wallet from his jean back pocket and pretty much threw the bill at the girl. He then grasped the boxes and held them as if a newborn child. Kurt wondered if he was about to cry.

As the girl picked up the bag to leave, Adam said to her, "Thank you so much. You have brought immense joy to this household."

This was when the girl picked up her pace to get as far away from this boy as possible.

Kurt shut the door as Finn came down the stairs. Finn looked at the boxes in Adam's arms and asked, "Girl Scout Cookies? Kurt, did you get some?"

Kurt answered, "Are you kidding me? Those things would be the death of my figure so no."

Now Finn looked like _he _might cry.

Adam saw the mist in Finn's eyes and was quick to say, "Dude, no problem. You and I can share."

Finn's face grew bright and jumped down the last few steps on the stairs and said, "Thanks man!..Hey you two should come to my room and play from CoD with me and Puck and Sam."

Kurt was not into the idea at all but the look of longing on Adam's face pulled him to agree. As they crawled back up the stairs, Finn pulled a bit back to mutter at Kurt, "Your friend's pretty cool, Kurt."

This made Kurt grin happily and whisper back, "I know."

Three of the five Girl Scout Cookie boxes were lying empty on Finn's bedroom floor while Adam and him were yelling at the television screen playing the violent videogame. Although Kurt declined to play, he was laughing at the boys' antics. It had been a few hours now but time flew by with the three having such a good, relaxed time. The boys were making so much noise that they didn't hear the doorbell ringing constantly for five minutes straight. Kurt also couldn't hear his phone vibrating on Finn's bed.

Footsteps approached Finn's bedroom door, probably attracted by the noise, and the door slowly opened up to see a more than just annoyed Blaine. He looked beat from a full day of school and Warbler practice. Kurt looked up to see who had come in while Adam and Finn were too focused on their game.

"Blaine! Hey! You're here. Come sit."

Blaine didn't move.

"Kurt, where's your phone?"

"What? It's right there." Kurt looked around the messed sheets and found his sleek Blackberry. He clicked on it and saw that Blaine had called about seven times and left 3 unread text messages.

"Oh my God, Blaine. I am so sorry. I didn't hear it go off at all."

Blaine just let out a tired sigh and approached Kurt.

"It's fine. I was just worried you weren't answering and your mother let me in downstairs. She said you were up here with Finn and Adam."

"Oh yeah. They're both hopped up on Girl Scout Cookies and it's actually _quite _entertaining."

Blaine forced out a small smile and didn't look at Kurt. Kurt, of course noticed, and nudged Blaine lightly on the shoulder with his arm.

"Hey, you okay?"

Blaine just shook his head.

"What happened...Here, let's go to my room and talk. These two are way too loud."

"All right."

Adam and Finn didn't even notice when Kurt led Blaine out the door and back to his room. They both sat down on Kurt's bed. Well, actually, Blaine more so collapsed onto it face forward.

"You seem really beat," observed Kurt.

"I am," muttered Blaine into Kurt's dark blue Ralph Lauren silk sheets.

"So what happened?"

"…I'm just really tired, Kurt. Everything is piling on right now. Junior year is driving me nuts," vented Blaine. Kurt was listening intently because Blaine hardly every opened up like this since he was always the one asking Kurt what was wrong. It was nice to have the tables turned for once.

Blaine continued, " SATs are next week, Warblers are in full drive mode for Regionals, and AP classes are trying to literally run me over on the asphalt."

All Kurt could say was, "Whoa."

Then Kurt came up with an idea, "You know what you need?"

"What?"

"A massage."

"A massage?"

"Yup. I've decided. Lay back down, I'll give you a back rub."

Blaine gave Kurt a weird look and finally said, "Sure. Why not. Lord knows I need it." He laid back down face front on Kurt's bed as moved towards him. Kurt didn't necessarily want to straddle Blaine. Actually, that's a lie. He did want to straddle him but he knew it wouldn't be appropriate. Not right now at least. So instead he sat to Blaine's right side and kind of awkwardly bent his arms to massage Blaine's tense shoulders.

"Oh my, you have so many knots," said Kurt.

All Blaine could do was moan at the release of tension.

This alarmed Kurt and he was glad that Blaine couldn't see him blushing. At this point, Kurt wasn't sure if Blaine was too aware of himself since he was so tired because Blaine wouldn't stop moaning into his sheets.

"Oh my God, Kurt. Your hands feel like angels kissing my body."

"Uhh…thanks."

"Kuuuuuurt. Hooooooooly, Kuurrrr-"

"Okay! I think that was good enough," yelled Kurt. He couldn't take Blaine's moans anymore or else he would've done something to cross their 'just friends' line zone.

It was also a good thing he stopped since Kurt's bedroom door opened with Adam behind it.

"Is everything cool in here? I swear an aardvark was dying."

"How on earth would you know what an aardvark dying sounds like?" asked Kurt. Blaine just laughed since he was too tired to do anything else.

" Just trust me. We have a much more diverse ecosystem in California than you do in Ohio."

"Oh, I'm sure," said Kurt rolling his eyes.

"Sup Blaine. Uhm, Kurt I have to get going. Thanks for having me over, your song was pretty. I'm sure you'll get it. Later Blaine."

All Blaine could do was lift a limp arm up to wave goodbye. Kurt left Blaine on the bed to walk Adam down to the door. Finn was there, too, to say farewell. Adam gave Finn a bro high five and said, "So yeah man, hit me up on Facebook or something and we can play CoD live together."

Finn smiled and said, "Sure thing."

Adam turned around to give a friendly hug and pat on Kurt's back. "Later Kurt."

He then turned to say goodbye to Carole and Burt who were sitting on the living room couch.

"Thanks for having me Mr. and Mrs. Hummel."

With that, Adam got in his car and left.

Kurt ran back upstairs as not to leave Blaine alone for too long. When he opened the door, he had planned to sing _Touch Me _to Blaine but instead he found Blaine dead asleep. He was lying on Kurt's bed like a baby with the blankets pulled up to his calm face. All the stress seemed to have lifted. Kurt noticed how Blaine's dark curly locks were breaking free and now lay crazy over Blaine's serene face. He was even lightly snoring.

He didn't want to wake up such a precious image and just quietly sat down at his desk to do some homework until it was time to wake Blaine up to tell him to go home. Still, Kurt wished Blaine would never go home.


	3. Chapter 3: A Sad Discovery

Kurt had one week to pull it off. He had 50 dollars in his budget. It was starting to look like "Mission: Throw Blaine a Bitchin' Birthday Extravaganza" was an impossible one. Still, Kurt had one more asset. Whether it was a useful one or not was going to be left up to time. And that was Adam Havens.

"I don't even know the guy, Kurt. Why do I have to help throw him a birthday?" whined Adam.

Kurt and Adam were at their local Party Warehouse to buy supplies for Blaine's birthday party during their lunch hour.

"I've decided you're my best straight male friend at Dalton. So you have to help. Simple as that," explained Kurt.

Adam knew all he could do was roll his eyes. Kurt had picked up a bedazzled plastic tiara to put on top his bundle of brown silk. A normal Ohio born-and-raised dude might have been alarmed but Adam didn't even glance twice. He, himself, found a second tiara with pink fur lining the edges to put on his own mane.

"How do I look?" asked Adam in his best diva voice.

Kurt looked up at Adam's new accessory and turned away with a blunt, " You can't pull it off like me."

Adam faked a hurt scoff as he continued to follow the porcelain through the crazy party packed aisles. Then something dawned on him.

"Kurt, wasn't your Warblers audition supposed to be today?" asked Adam a bit worriedly.

Adam couldn't tell if bringing it up made Kurt nervous because he had his back faced towards him but it did take Kurt a bit longer than comfortable to respond.

" It's not until after school."

"Hey, I don't know how this choir stuff-"

"Glee club."

"Okay…I don't know how this Glee club stuff works but shouldn't you be like practicing?"

" I suppose but I'm confident that I'm prepared."

"…Are you still doing that weird song?"

This made Kurt come to a stop and turn around to face Adam with a slightly confused expression.

"What weird song?"

"The one you sang to me when I first came over to your house…You…touched yourself-"

Kurt busted into a fit of giggles, but after seeing the anxious look on Adam's faced he had to kneel down with tears brewing at the rim of his eyes.

"Alright, I get it. I just don't get it…Stop-stop laughing!"

Kurt couldn't even bring himself to stop laughing to speak. He didn't really know why he was laughing so hard to begin with but with the stress of his upcoming Warblers audition and planning a birthday party seem to be causing his minor hysterical breaking down. Adam looked at his watch, wondering when this outing would be over, and realized that they only had ten minutes before the final bell that ends lunch would ring.

"Sorry to break your for-only-one party but we need to pay for this crap and get out," grumbled an annoyed Adam.

Kurt could still only nod his head but he was sobering up from the giggles. Once everything was done and paid for, they walked out to the parking lot to get into Kurt's luxurious SUV. As they were buckling up, Adam decided to ask, "Wait, aren't Blaine's parents like loaded? Why wouldn't they just throw a party for him?"

This stopped Kurt. He just assumed he'd entice Blaine that they were meant to be together after he impressed him with his amazing party throwing skills. He only even had a week because he was so busy with adjusting to Dalton that he hadn't had time to plan ahead of time.

"I-I don't know," admitted a deflated Kurt.

Adam hadn't meant to damper his spirits so he came up with a simple solution, "Couldn't you just talk with his parents? I'm sure they'd be fine with you taking over the birthday plans and that's only if they were doing anything in the first place…Just relax, bro." He even gave Kurt a small pat on the shoulder.

This satisfied Kurt and he left a mental note for himself to sneak over to Blaine's house when Blaine wasn't around to talk to his parents…that would be fine if Kurt knew at all where Blaine lived. He's never been invited, which is weird because Blaine comes over to Kurt's modest suburban home in Lima all the time. Instead of dwelling why Blaine never invited Kurt over, he just decided to somehow trick him into having him over.

Simple enough.

The Warblers sat on smooth mahogany wooden chairs in a large open space, where Kurt recognized as the room he first watched Blaine perform. Already a sense of nostalgia for performance etched into his heart when a petite lady, who looked like she was in her mid-thirties walked in. She had dirty blond hair pulled into a loose bun and a simple navy blue dress. Kurt was sitting isolated in front of the mass of Warblers with her approaching his side.

"Hi, you're Kurt Hummel? I'm the Warbler's Glee club instructor. My name is Ms. Gardias."

" It's nice to meet you."

"Alright well I'm sure you're anxious to sing already, which is expected. Just hand your music to our pianist and he'll cue you in. Okay?"

Kurt couldn't even look her in the eye. He just nodded his head and gulped the fear that was creeping through his insides. His hard started pounding like a persistent drum and Kurt was sure even the Warblers on the very other side of the room could hear. Waves of heat were rushing into his face and the air seemed to be covered in sweat.

Kurt walked up to the lanky young man on the piano and handed him his music sheets.

Piano keys were being hit but nothing was registering for Kurt. He missed his cue. The pianist looked up awkwardly at Kurt and began playing from the beginning again. Kurt knew he was supposed to be singing right now.

_Sing, damn it! Just sing! You do this in your room every day. _

That was when something caught Kurt's eye. Two hazel orbs staring back at him. A pair of lips were mouthing the word _"sing."_

That was his push.

All of a sudden the music hit Kurt like a needed slap to the face. He jumped at them.

The song was different than the one he sang to Adam that other night. It was more honest. And it worked.

_I was a quick wet boy_

_Diving too deep for coins_

_All of your street light eyes_

_Wide on my plastic toys_

_And when the cops closed the fair_

_I cut my long baby hair_

_Stole me a dog-eared map_

_And called for you everywhere_

_Have I found you?_

_Flightless bird, jealous, weeping_

_Or lost you?_

_American mouth_

_Big pill looming_

_Now I'm a fat house cat_

_Nursing my sore blunt tongue_

_Watching the warm poison rats_

_Curl through the wide fence cracks_

_Pissing on magazine photos_

_Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean_

_Blood of Christ mountain stream_

_Have I found you?_

_Flightless bird, grounded, bleeding_

_Or lost you?_

_American mouth_

_Big pill stuck going down_

Kurt ended with a startling silence that engulfed the room. Not once did those hazel orbs leave Kurt's line of sight.

Ms. Gardias broke the silence by clapping her hands together once and stood up to gesture for applause.

Friendly claps mixed with genuinely enthusiastic ones flowed into Kurt's ears like a dirty drug. He couldn't have been more pleased with himself at this moment. If he wasn't in, his theory that Ohio is a mental institution covered up, as being an American state would be proven gold.

Ms. Gardias put her small hand on Kurt's shoulder to congratulate him in front of the Warblers.

"That was beautiful Kurt. I especially love Iron & Wine. It's like you read my Facebook bio," laughed Ms. Gardias at her lame attempt at being comical.

She continued, "Anyway Kurt. The Warblers and I are going to have to go over your audition later this week. After that, we'll get back to you on whether you've gotten into the group. It's awfully selective for a high school Glee club but you have to understand we get hundreds of boys that try-out every year. It's a miracle that we're holding an audition just for you mid-year but our junior member, Blaine, assured us of how much you want this."

The thought of Blaine talking about how ambitious Kurt was enough for him to break into a goofy grin alone. The curly-haired devil, himself, walked up to the pair and crushed Kurt in a tight hug. Swaying together in the embrace, Blaine stretched his neck so that he could murmur into Kurt's ear, "You were brilliant. As always. You're a shoe in. Hell! Both shoes in!"

They laughed together and broke apart with a slight hesitance from both sides. The heat from Kurt's face from earlier seemed to have traveled to Kurt's sweaty palms.

The two walked out of the building together into the school parking lot. Kurt decided this was his chance to get himself invited over to Blaine's.

"So maybe we could end this afternoon with some snacks and Project Runway marathon?" asked Kurt.

"That actually sounds pretty good. I have some time since I got a lot done ahead of time during the weekend. You want to head over to your place now?" suggested Blaine.

Kurt needed to turn the tables quick.

"Actually, Carole has her book club at my house and I just know that if we walk in we're going to have to talk about the power of feminism represented in novels. No, thank you."

"That does sound cruel," conceded Blaine with an easy chuckle.

"…How about your place?"

Blaine had stopped walking seconds before Kurt even realized. His hand was scratching the back of his head with an uncomfortable expression.

"Ahh, yeah. Uhm, I don't think that's a good idea, Kurt."

This was getting frustrating.

"And why is that? I mean all we're doing is watching some tv and eating our weight in junk. It should be fabulous."

"It's just my parents Kurt…"

"It's fine. As long as we're in your room, we shouldn't even make a peep…come on, Blaine. I really want to celebrate my marvelous audition," urged Kurt.

Blaine mulled it over in his head just standing there in the middle of the school parking lot. He knew how much it would mean to Kurt and that just bailing would make him a bad friend.

"Alright, fine."

"Way to make it sound like you want me around."

"No, I do! It's just I don't usually have people over. It's weird…but it should be fine. We're just watching tv."

"Exactly," confirmed Kurt who now excitedly entered Blaine's address into his SUV's GPS system.

And with that, they were off.

Just like Adam thought, Blaine's family was "loaded" and then some. They lived in an all white house, only a few square feet short of being a mansion. I had three floors, one being a basement. They had a grand entrance with marble staircases that winded up to the second floor. All sound echoed through the vast spaces between the walls.

Blaine told Kurt to wait a moment by the door so that he could check if his parents were home. Blaine couldn't find either of them so he came back to Kurt so that he could lead them to his bedroom. But just as they were about to ascend the stairs, an old man in an expensive black suit walked from the other side of the house. He had the Wall Street Journal in his hand and streaks of distinguished grey in his otherwise straight black hair. He looked up to see Kurt and Blaine paused on the staircase.

"Blaine?" asked the man.

"Oh, hey dad. I didn't realize you were home," said a nervous Blaine.

"Who is this?" Mr. Anderson pointed at Kurt with his rolled up Wall Street Journal.

"This is Kurt, dad. He's a friend from school."

Blaine's dad said nothing. He just stared hard at Kurt for a solid few seconds then walked away from the two into a different hallway downstairs.

All Kurt could do was mouth "wow" at the coldness in his hospitality.

Blaine already started apologizing to Kurt, "I'm sorry. He's kind of why I don't have people over."

"Oh, I wonder why," said Kurt in the heaviest sarcastic tone he could manage.

They finally got to Blaine's bedroom, which was bigger than Kurt's garage. In absolute awe, Kurt's jaw dropped at how lavish it was. Then Blaine took off his tie and school jacket. He jumped with his back to the bed and sprawled himself over it. Kurt just awkwardly stood by the bed trying not to stare at how Blaine's school shirt had raised over his belly button. Oh, hello happy trail!

" Gosh, Kurt would you mind if I took a quick shower? I just really need one."

Kurt nodded. "It's fine, I'll get the tv ready for Project Runway."

"Cool." And with that Blaine got up from the bed and proceeded to unbutton his shirt as he walked into his personal bathroom. Kurt's head strained so hard to watch Blaine's body walk off that he almost fell off balance. The sudden loss of gravity reminded Kurt that he had a job to do.

As soon as he heard the water go off, Kurt snuck out of Blaine's room and swiftly moved downstairs. He found the same hallway that Mr. Anderson had disappeared off to in hopes of finding him somewhere nearby.

He saw smoke coming out of a pair of elegant black doors to the right in the narrow hallway. Kurt softly knocked against them.

"Come in," said Mr. Anderson's voice from the other side.

It turned out to be the Anderson's cigar room and Blaine's dad was enjoying a Cuban while reading his paper. He was sitting on a black leather seat with smoke surrounding him like a thick fog.

"Hello, Mr. Anderson," coughed Kurt from the smoke.

Mr. Anderson didn't even look up from his paper.

Kurt decided to sit down opposite from Mr. Anderson on a seat meant for people to lie their feet. When he crossed his legs to get more comfortable, Mr. Anderson took notice.

"So hi. I'm Kurt, as you know by now. And I know this seems totally from left field but I was thinking of throwing Blaine his birthday party. Of course, it occurred to me you and your wife might be doing something for him and I just wanted to know if it's okay for me to take handle of it."

Mr. Anderson's eyes were back on the paper by the time Kurt had started talking but now the cigar was out of his mouth and placed on a close ashtray. He folded his paper into a neat rectangle over his lap. A grey-haired eyebrow rose at Kurt.

"Son, do you know who I am?"

Kurt didn't know how to respond so he chose the honest route.

"No, I'm sorry. I just know that you're Blaine's dad."

"Well, son. I'll have you know that I am the president of Ohio's best independent insurance company. I am a local hero, if you will. And I want you to understand that I have an image to maintain."

Kurt wasn't getting it.

"Excuse me? I don't understand," said Kurt.

"What I'm trying to say is that people respect me around here. They expect me to be a certain way, a real family man…a true American. And frankly, I can't have my son gallivanting with his queery boyfriend when I'm under the public's eye. This isn't some fancy city where that kind of behavior is made to seem okay. Well, we're in Ohio. And it's not okay."

Kurt could not believe what he was hearing.

"Okay…I think I understand now Mr. Anderson."

"Good," said Mr. Anderson, who began re-opening his newspaper and putting his cigar back in his wrinkled mouth.

"…I understand that you're scared."

Mr. Anderson looked up at Kurt, almost tired.

"And I understand that you don't deserve a son as strong and great as Blaine, who puts up with not a father but a _person _like you. And you talk about how Ohio has certain expectations. The only expectation that you should be meeting is to be a good dad to your son. He got enough bullies at school and he doesn't need one in his own family, if you want to call yourself that for him."

Nothing from Mr. Anderson.

Before Kurt was fully out the door he turned back for a brief moment to say, "So I'm guessing you're not racing to celebrate your gay son's birthday. It's fine. I'll take care of it. He has family in other places."

Kurt was still fuming when he got back to Blaine's room. He slammed himself against Blaine's bed when Blaine walked out in nothing but a wet towel wrapped around his waist.

Kurt was too angry to look at Blaine with lust-filled eyes. Instead he looked at how kind Blaine's eyes were when they were a little embarrassed from being so naked in front of Kurt. His white teeth glistened with his smile that reminded you that of an innocent toddler. Blaine was a good guy. He was a good person. Looking at him that was all Kurt could think about. How _good _Blaine was.

"What are you staring so hard at?" blushed Blaine.

"Just admiring," said Kurt, which was the honest truth.

"That's a bit pervy, Kurt," joked Blaine.

"Well, it's true," Kurt lifted himself from the bed and looked more intensely at Blaine's face, "and I hope you know that I'm really grateful to have met you."

Of course Blaine had no idea where Kurt was coming from but he was thankful nonetheless at the praise.

"Thanks. I'm glad to have met you, too."

Blaine grabbed some fresh clothes to change into and walked back into the bathroom to change.

Kurt started looking around Blaine's room with more interest and he saw an old looking photograph in a simple black frame.

It was Mr. Anderson, who looked years younger, holding a little boy with a mess of black curls. It was Blaine. He looked about 5 years old, and he was hugging his dad's neck with the greatest affection in his eyes. They both had affection in their eyes. This was making Kurt depressed and he had no choice but to pull his eyes away from the photo.

It seems that Blaine loves his father and deep down, Kurt knew his father felt the same way about Blaine. Kurt just wished that his dad would live up to that kind of love. Not every one could be as lucky as Kurt. He knew that, too. Maybe this could be Kurt's turn to be a body of support for Blaine. It felt nice.

Blaine finally emerged from his closet in a simple grey cotton tee and navy blue basketball shorts. He came out smiling the way he always does. He grabbed the tv remote to turn on the tv. As he sat back down on the bed, he looked at Kurt with a grin and said, "Ready?"

Kurt grinned back and confirmed, "I'm ready."


End file.
